Cane juice rum mostly comes from
Haiti,
Martinique, and the
Guadeloupe islands of
Marie-Galante,
Grande-Terre, and
Basse-Terre, but is made throughout the
Caribbean including in
Trinidad,
Panama, the
Dominican Republic and
Grenada; in the
Indian Ocean on
Mauritius and
Réunion Island; and in the
Pacific Ocean on the islands of
Hawaii and
French Polynesia, and in
Vanuatu. Most rum is made from molasses, a byproduct of
sugar refining. When
France began to make sugar from
sugar beets around 1811, sugar prices dropped and the debt-ridden
sugar factories in the French Caribbean could not survive solely on sugar production. Fresh cane juice was now available for
fermenting and
distilling into rum. Martinican producers of cane-juice rums made entirely in Martinique and meeting certain production standards are entitled under French law to the ''
appellation d'origine contrôlée'' (French protected designation of origin) "AOC Martinique Rhum Agricole". This designation is unique to Martinique and does not define the category of cane juice rum or rhum agricole.
La Martiniquaise was founded by Jean Cayard in 1934 as an importer of Martinique rums and is now the second largest liquor company in France. There are four distilleries in
Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe, including founded by the father of the
Chevalier de Saint-Georges. In
Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, there is
Distillerie Damoiseau and in
Marie-Galante there are Distillerie Bellevue, Distillerie Bielle, and Distillerie Poisson (also known as Rhum du Père LaBat). , a rhum agricole cocktail, made from
rhum blanc (left) and
rhum ambré (right) The rest of the
Caribbean produces cane juice rums of varying ages. Most notable are the
Barbancourt rums of Haiti which are aged to four, eight, and fifteen years. There are five hundred village cottage industry producers of
clairin. A form of cane juice rum first appeared in
Brazil where it is called
cachaça. With the burgeoning craft distilling scene, new world styles of rhum agricole are appearing. New World rhum agricole distilleries include
The Distillery Phuket (which produces Chalong Bay Rum) and Lamai Distilleries in
Thailand and Chamarel in Mauritius. With the closure of
Hawaii's crystalline sugar producing mills, some artisanal distilleries have opened which continue production of cane for rhum agricole. Rhum agricole is also produced in
Taiwan. == See also ==